A grizzled, gap-toothed man asks to break a twenty for his bill. I keep all m’fives, he tells the waitress. The man at the counter laughs. I like keeping all my money, too. Naw, the fives. He holds a bill aloft. The ones with E. When I was little and loud, my favorite word was, …
The boy saw the man snap the wishbone to destroy the universe, but because he was little no one heeded his cries. *****
Despair choked. Cultivated joy. Harvested peace. *****
Home from the hospital, my daughter says, Why, Mom? The big things, yes. Fire and flood. Hypocrisy and hate. But that’s not what she means today. Today, she means the mystery of unintelligible suffering. When she was little, I knew all, healed all. Her growing stole my magic. Her growing made me mortal. Now she …
Once upon a time… A good little girl waits patiently for her fairy godmother to return the voice her father stole then buried, unmarked, in the woods surrounding their condo. In this version, they forget about her and she dies. Or, They remember her, but they sell her voice and keep the money. Then she …
“Help?” “Reveling in the Deadlies. Nope!”
Toxic legacy? Trashed some, burned rest. ***** Looking for Part One? Read it here: https://mereisinger.com/2019/11/08/diy-happily-ever-after/
GAIA raped, Rotting in pauper’s grave.
Shoulda never let the hags move in. Concoct their poisons. Invoke their hell spawn. Enough. Enough. Enough, I spit. I hereby evict the coven from my head space. Peace in.
My story “The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them” is a quarter-finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. You can read the entire list here:
